What should Harry do?
by VelvetCello
Summary: Harry sees someone in the park who should not be there, what will he do?


Should he tell,

Harry bit his lip, should he tell the man in front of him who he was? Would he recognise him? What would be the outcome? He had been watching him for a while, it was a scene played out over many weekends, children's birthday parties, but what was really fascinating, was the man who was playing with a small gang of unruly children.

"Gerald, get back here," the man laughed, he ran over to the small boy and picked him up, he had previously been swinging him around by an arm and a leg, the old aeroplane game. Gerald promptly threw up over the man, all over his dark grey jumper. He looked to the woman wiping the face of young child around 5 or 6 years of age and shoo'd her to join her friends on the swings. "Freya" he yelled, "can you take this child please," he carefully peeled off the outer garment, and looked around for a plastic bag to put it in... "sit Gerald," he motioned the child to sit down. Gerald promptly sat on his bottom and got up again. He laughed again, the woman walked over to him smiling, "Here Gerry," she gave him a cup of water and sat him down. "I told you not to be too rough, he was eating cake Sebastian." The man had a wry smile on his face. He looked up as a small girl ran over to him.

"Daddy, daddy," the dark-haired child yelled. He scooped her up.

"Hello my sweet." She buried herself into him.

"Did you see me; did you see me on the slide with mum before?" she squealed.

"I did my darling, you were so brave you went really high." He put her down and she ran back to the playground.

The woman next to him broke in.

"Can you help feed the twins please," he leaned over and grabbed the large carry all and found the bottles of formula. In the pram to the side, she took a bundle of blankets out, a small child around 8 months old was starting to cry. She handed the baby to him and he sat on the blanket, cross legged and started to feed her without complaint and quite expertly.

Harry watched the scene covertly, he and Ginny were visiting London, a weekend away for their first real weekend away. He had popped out for a walk in the sunshine, she hadn't been feeling the best, morning sickness was taking its toll. He had been walking through the park back to their hotel when he had seen the tall dark man with the facial features he knew so well. At first, he thought he was mistaken but as he drew closer, he was sure he was not wrong. The deep baritone was unmistakable, as was the scar on his neck. Harry could see it from here, though over the years it had faded and was a light pink rather than a deep red.

It looked like a birthday party, several children around 5 years old, plus the two babies were in a small section near the play equipment. There was the dark-haired girl who had his eyes, Gerald, a small blonde boy, a girl with hazelnut curls and another blonde girl.

If he didn't know the man, the scene would be unremarkable. Except he had never seen this man smile, unless it was after punishment or a detention, never heard unrestrained laughter and he would never, never have allowed a child to throw up on him and then dismiss it as nothing at all. Harry wasn't sure what he should do. The man was supposed to be dead, he saw him die himself, didn't he?

The man feeding the baby looked up as if he knew he was being scrutinised. He looked around, and his gaze rested on Harry briefly ' _shit'_ he thought, but he kept looking around, not stopping and showing absolutely no sign of recognition. The baby had finished feeding and was being held up on his shoulder to be burped.

Harry quickly got his phone out and said in a low voice, "Ginny, come here, come to the park outside of the hotel, quickly, now." The urgency in his voice was unmistakable. He kept watching him. The babies had now been both fed, and he was sitting back, his legs stretched out and crossed, arms behind him with his face to the sun. his frame was solid, his hair black and shiny, his skin held a well-fed sun kissed hue.

He looked up and saw Ginny hurry across the road toward him.

"What's wrong Harry." She moved closer to him and he gave a side along look at the group. Ginny glanced over and gave a double take, she whispered to Harry,

"Is that who I think it is,"

Harry whispered back, "you tell me. No, no don't look directly at him," they moved over to a bench nearby

"He's dead" Ginny whispered again.

"I thought so to," He replied. They heard the man's phone ring. Now Harry had seen it all, Snape with a mobile phone, he flipped it open and started talking, Harry realised it was his boss.

"Come on Joe, it's the weekend. Give me a break, its Sophia's birthday. Yes, Yes, Ok, do you want me at the Mercure on Bradley st or Charing cross. Ok, ok, fine, later this afternoon though," he grimaced to the woman who seemed to be his wife and put his phone away.

"They have an issue with the housekeeping staff at Charing cross, it wont take long to sort out, I promise," she laughed, "You had better make it up to me later," he leered at her and leaned over to grab her, they both fell back, his face buried in her neck, Harry couldn't hear his reply, but the woman laughed,

"You'd better not fall asleep halfway through again"

A few moments later, he stood up and stretched and looked at his watch. "I think its time to go my darling, round 'em up." In a short while, they had called the parents and had waved goodbye to them, packed up their own car and headed off. Harry thought he saw the man look at him before he drove off, but it may have been his imagination.

They looked at each other, unsure of how to start.

"What," "How," they both started

Harry was in a dilemma, he knew where he worked, he could visit him and talk to him, however the dilemma was obvious. If Snape had seen him, and didn't recognise him, then somehow, he had lost him memory and was now living as a muggle, otherwise he reasoned he would have surreptitiously cleaned the vomit from his jumper.

If Snape recognised him, but chose not to react, that would mean that he knew who he was and chose to live that way.

His life was obviously good, he truly seemed happier than Harry had ever seen him before, even in his memories. If he didn't know who he was, and Harry told him, would he suddenly remember and go back to the surly man he had been, would all those insecurities and self-loathing come back, would he still be the man Harry had seen in the park?

But he needed to know what happened in the Shrieking shack.

What should he do?


End file.
